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The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) of 1977 and its amendment – the Trade and Competitive Act of 1988 – are unique not only in the history of the accounting and auditing profession, but also in international law. The Acts raised awareness of the need for efficient and adequate internal control systems to prevent illegal acts such as the bribery of foreign officials, political parties and governments to secure or maintain contracts overseas. Its uniqueness is also due to the fact that the USA is the first country to pioneer such a legislation that impacted foreign trade, international law and codes of ethics. The research traces the history of the FCPA before and after its enactment, the role played by the various branches of the United States Government – Congress, Department of Justice, Securities Exchange commission (SEC), Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS); the contributions made by professional associations such as the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICFA), the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA), the American Bar Association (ABA); and, finally, the role played by various international organizations such as the United Nations (UN), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC). A cultural, ethical and legalistic background will give a better understanding of the FCPA as wll as the rationale for its controversy.

This study aims to investigate the impact of the enforcement of the international anti-bribery legal framework in developing countries.

It uses the PetroTiger case to examine the effects of foreign bribery prosecutions in Colombia, from a bribe-receivers perspective. PetroTiger is a USA-based company that was prosecuted for bribing public officials in Colombia. As a result, the public officials involved were also prosecuted in Colombia for receiving bribes. This case serves to illustrate how international anti-bribery law operates in practice and how it impacts Colombian law enforcement institutions and their capacity to prosecute bribe-receivers. The Colombian response to the international anti-corruption framework is examined in this study through the review of legislative efforts taken to address the problems of bribery and corruption in public procurement.

This study finds that enforcement of foreign bribery laws raise awareness of the situation of corruption in developing countries, generate parallel prosecutions of individuals at the receiving end of bribes and helps developing countries to develop technical expertise to fight corruption.

In practice, due to the transnational nature of foreign bribery, without international agreements, this type of corruption in international business would seldom lead to prosecution. Although the effectiveness of the enforcement of international anti-corruption law is debated, in reality, prosecutions of foreign bribery by developed countries have more positive than negative implications for developing countries.

Assist to continue efforts to deter corruption.

No many studies have looked at the effectiveness of anti-corruption international law in developing countries. As indicated by Mr. Moulette Patrick head of Anti-Corruption Division at organisation for economic co-operation and development more research on the effectiveness of the UN enacted Convention against Corruption, which is what this paper does.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an updated review of Canadian foreign official anti-bribery policy.

To achieve this objective, seven factors were examined. Several factors have been emphasized by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and others are original.

The results indicate that while Canada is making progress towards strengthening its foreign official anti-bribery policy, significant weaknesses still remain.

This study adds to the literature in this area by utilizing several new factors which attempt to gauge the effectiveness of foreign official anti-bribery policy.

This study aims to investigate whether United Kingdom (UK)-based companies have changed their voluntary disclosures on curbing the bribery of foreign officials in response to the UK Bribery Act 2010, and if so whether and how such disclosure changes substantively reflected allegations of bribery of foreign officials by news media.

By using the notions of institutional pressure and decoupling and applying content and thematic analysis, the authors examined, in particular, disclosures on curbing bribery by the largest 100 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange in periods before and after the Bribery Act (2007–2012). News media reports covering incidents of bribery of foreign officials and related corporate disclosures before and after the Act were thoroughly examined to problematise corporate anti-bribery disclosure practices.

The study finds a significant change in disclosure on curbing bribery before and after the enactment of the UK Bribery Act, consistent with the notion of institutional coercive pressure. However, decoupling is also found: organisations' disclosures did not substantively reflect incidents of bribing foreign public officials, mostly from underprivileged developing nations.

This study acknowledges a limitation stemming from using media reports that focus on bribery incidents in identifying actual cases or incidents of bribery. As some of the incidents identified from news media reports appeared to be allegations, not convictions for bribery, companies could have defensible reasons for not disclosing some aspects of them.

Regulators should think why new or more regulations without substantive requirement are not helpful to curb corporate decoupling and injustice. The regulators should address the crisis that multinational companies (MNCs) being suppliers of bribery are much more harmful for the underprivileged communities in developing nations. Accordingly, this paper provides practical insights into how stakeholders ought to critically interpret MNCs' accounts of their involvement in bribery.

This study contributes to the accounting literature by problematising MNCs' operations in underprivileged countries. The findings suggest that not only public officials in developing countries as creators of bribery but also Western-based MNCs as the suppliers of bribery contribute to perpetuating unethical practices and injustices to the underprivileged communities in developing countries. This research is imperative as this is one of the first known studies that provides evidence of the actions including disclosure-related actions companies have taken in response to the UK Bribery Act.

Bribery of public officers has been an offence under Canada's criminal law since its codification in 1892. That offence and a collection of other little‐used provisions are intended to serve as a bulwark against the corruption of Canadian public officials. Until recently, however, the bribery of a foreign public official was not accorded similar, or any, treatment in Canada's criminal law. This void existed despite passage of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in the USA in 1977. The American legislation passed unanimously in both Houses of Congress, part of the post‐Watergate attempt to cleanse America government of unethical behaviour and illegal conduct. It also came after a large number of high‐profile companies admitted to bribing foreign officials in order to obtain large government contracts.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the implications of The UK Bribery Act 2010 for businesses and in particular those with cross‐border activities.

This study relies on documentary research and using both primary and secondary data drawn from the public domain.

The study suggests why UK businesses and in particular those conducting cross‐country transactions should take the implications of this law seriously as the enforcement agency in the UK transforms to a more active mode. It also suggests why, despite some severe criticisms, the UK does not lag behind in the global fight against corruption.

This is an exploratory review paper to promote empirical research in a business sensitive theme.

Insights from the study should prompt business leaders to give sufficient attention to those areas with high risks of falling within the ambit of the Act.

The study's findings reinforce the ethical dimensions of cross‐border business practices.

This study uses the implications of the new UK Act to draw attention to the business community that with the passing of the Act business cannot be as usual; that compliance to the Foreign Corrupt Practice Act would be insufficient; and that despite controversies over implementation delays, the UK does not lag behind in the fight against corruption worldwide.

Since 1977, U.S. firms have been prohibited from bribing foreign officials under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. As a result, many traditional competitors of U.S. multinational firms have been willing to pay bribes to foreign officials as a marketing ploy to win sales at the expense of their American counterparts. Because bribery of public officials is widespread in many developing nations to facilitate overseas sales, U.S. firms lost significant overseas contracts while their foreign competitors gained market share. Recognizing the dilemma that American firms are in, successive U.S. administrations have led the charge against bribery and have attempted to get other nations to join in the battle. Now, after twenty years, these attempts are finally paying off. A growing number of international organizations have developed guidelines to help curb corruption in the future. This paper traces the U.S.'s attempts to curtail official bribery, and details new information outlets and laws passed by other nations to be used as weapons as they join in the U.S.‐led fight against bribery.

Empirical research demonstrates that bribery has a detrimental impact on investment, economic growth, trade, and democratic governments. In response to rising bribery activity and the additional burdens placed on corporate officials by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) of 1977 has reached an all-time high. Although many managers, financial officers, entrepreneurs, and auditors are aware of the FCPA's objectives and mandates, many do not do an adequate job of protecting their firms, employees, and/or clients from fines and prison sentences. The purposes of this paper are to (1) analyze and describe bribery and FCPA case filings, sanctions, payments (bribes), and value of business to be obtained; (2) describe and analyze the important provisions of the FCPA; (3) discuss vicarious liability or the liability of U.S. firms and others for the acts of third parties; and (4) make recommendations to help firms improve their compliance with the FCPA.

This paper aims to critically analyse the Criminal Code Amendment (Bribery of Foreign Public Officials) Act 1999 and Crimes Legislation Amendment (Combating Corporate Crime) Bill 2017 with special focus on the facilitation payment (FP) defence by referring to the UK Bribery Act 2010. The study will showcase how FP promotes disrespect for a good corporate culture inevitable for responsible and sustained business and as to why FP must be abolished to make the Australian regulation consistent with the international standards.

This research is based on primary and secondary sources including the Senate Committee Reports and recent legislative developments in Australia, and the relevant law of the UK.

Australia is lagging far behind comparative jurisdictions including the UK, and the FP defence must be abolished to make the Australian regulation consistent with the international standards and to foster international business backed up by globalisation, competition and interconnectedness of national economies.

This paper is the original work of the author and has not been submitted elsewhere for publication.

The OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions went into force in February 1999. This article defines the extent and consequences of bribery, describes the adoption and analyzes the major provisions of the OECD Convention, with a special emphasis on Article 8, which contains accounting and auditing provisions, and its implications for auditing. It also analyzes the role of the Convention in promoting transparency and accountability in financial reporting.